Amazon.com associate program

Amazon.com finally got moving on their associate program and made some really great improvements. They were one of the first companies to offer such a service.

You can sign up with amazon and become an associate (or sometimes called an affiliate with other companies.)

The way this works is that you just sign up for a free associates account (link is at the bottom of their main page). Log into your associates central and start building links to your favorite books. They also have this great new feature that allows you to create a bookstore like this.

So what happens then is that when someone clicks on the links and buys books or whatever you have in the store and if they go on to shop and buy other products - you get a referral fee. It couldn’t be easier than that. Every three months they deposit it directly into your account.

You can use this to recommend your favorite books or massage supplies like this. They are now starting to carry just about everything under the sun.

While there are other programs that you can find, I haven’t found anyone with more consistent service.

I am still waiting for someplace like massagewarehouse.com to start such a program. It is such a win-win situation. The stores sell more and massage therapists make a little bit of extra cash to support their business and provide clients with quality products.

Posted in The Wealthy Massage Therapist, Websites for Massage therapists | No Comments »

Blogging for massage therapists

Blogging first started out as a simple online journal and has quickly become the new craze. It is amazing what people write about and what people want to read.

The biggest thing blogging does is helps build traffic for your website. Everytime you write a post in your blog, it sends out messages to the internet that you have posted something there. The search engines come alive and start scanning your site. They look for the new content and all of the links that you have on your pages.

It does this through something called an rss feed (really simple syndication).

People can subscribe to a blog or rss feed. (It doesn’t just have to be on a blog- it can be a rss feed on your website). When you create new content it tells people that you have written something so they can come back to your site and read what you wrote if they are interested. It is almost like writing a newsletter except people can choose what they are interested in to go online and read it or they can just ignore it and go on with their life. Simple!

While you can set up your own blog for free at many different sites, I think it is better to have a blog embedded in your site. I created this blog with a few clicks of a button using my host -ez-web-hosting.com. It allows you to put these add on programs on your site for no extra cost.

My favorite SiteBuildit! also comes with a thing they call blogger. It doesn’t allow people to post their own thoughts and comments which I at first thought would be necessary. After blogging consistently for a few months here, the number of spam posts far outweigh the real posts and I spend time each day deleting them. (You would be amazed at what people try to post and I can’t figure out why because most blogs let you approve posts before they go live.)

SBI also has an rss feed that you can add just by checking a box when you create the page that sends out a “Ping” to readers who have subscribed. It doesn’t have to be a blog doing the work. SBI does it all for you.

So what does that mean for your massage business? More traffic basically. More potential clients.

What do you write about?

Anything related to health, healing, massage, touch, that you want to do.

I found this nicely done blog by a massage therapist

Large Hearted Boy

My massagetherapycareers.com blog done by SBI and my massageseattle.net blog just updates the pages that are created. (although you can post separate news and announcements such as holiday specials or whatever you want to talk about.) If you look at those pages you will see the rss feed on the left of the page at the bottom of the navigation bar. That allows people to sign up easily for your blog.

After you set up your own blog, it helps to be the first subscriber. You can do that easily with a yahoo or google email account or using a rss reader that is included with an email software program like Thunderbird

RSS resources:

SiteBuildit!- Really Simple Syndication

Posted in Websites for Massage therapists | 1 Comment »

Creating Policies and Procedures

Creating a clearly defined practice is about creating boundaries that protect you and also promote your business.

I recently had the experience of attempting to do business with someone who has poorly defined policies and procedures. It has been one of the most frustrating experiences of my career (and I have been doing this for 17 years).

The biggest problem is that I read all of the material that she had printed on her flyer - the rules for doing business with this person. I attempted to to business with her 4 or 5 different times and each one I was faced with her calling me to tell me she was unable to do business with me because of xxx - which was some unwritten rule that she had that she just said everyone knew about. The problem was that most people call her to find out these things and I was only reading her info from her flyer. It was of course my fault for not calling and finding out these things…

I just find this whole thing to be a great example of “the code of the caretaker”. We assume people will read our minds and know what we want. I really find it to be prevalent especially in the massage business. I think it comes from our levels of self esteem and self confidence that allows us to ask for what we need and to not be devastated when we don’t get what we need, but we have the courage to continue asking until we do get our need met.
Clearly defining your practice framework through a carefully thought out procedures and policies statement will help clients understand what they are responsible for and what you are responsible for. Having this strong framework underneath you is the foundation for building a business that is rewarding both financially and emotionally (and spiritually)

The clearer you can be about what you do, the more likely you are to attract people who need your services and value your services.

Posted in Building Your Practice, Ethics, Peer Supervision, Starting Your Practice, The Code of the Caretaker | No Comments »

Gratitude

Gratitude is the power that connects you to your true self.

Being grateful for everything you do have and everything you are creating is one way to start the process of changing your thoughts and beliefs.

Your thoughts and beliefs are what become your reality. When you can change your thoughts to ones of being and feeling grateful, your reality will start to change. Reality is just each persons “perception” of what is going on.

Have you ever been to a movie where everyone had a different review of the movie? Some people liked it, some hated it , some liked one part, but hated another. Life is really like that. Each persons background created that opinion or point of view.

When we can become more aware of our thoughts that are causing the feelings that we are having, we can begin to change what we have in our lives.

I am sure you have heard the saying - If you want to be loved - go out and love. If you want more money, go out and give money away. Whatever you want more of, you have to be able to give it yourself or be it yourself.

When I first started the process of being grateful, I could easily say “I am grateful for this day. ” (or whatever it is). I now can “Feel” grateful which is different from just saying you are grateful.

I have an index card on the corner of my computer that says this quote from Sara Breathnatch author of “Simple Abundance”

Gratitude Leads to Simplicity.

Simplicity leads to Order.

Order leads to Harmony

Harmony leads to Joy.

Joy leads to Happiness.

What are you grateful for today? Can you find something new that you have never been grateful for before?

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Business Plans - Writing Your Mission/Purpose Statement

A massage business is about creating relationships. Relationships really allow you to become more self aware and learn about yourself.

Writing your mission statement is one of the first steps in creating a business plan. It really is a process of discovering who you are and where you are at so that you can create a plan to get you where you want to go.
The process of writing a mission statement requires some introspection and awareness of yourself. Your mission statement will easily guide you in making decisions about your business - everything from where to set up your business, how much to charge and what clients to work on. (I often see massage therapists making the mistake of thinking that they need to work on everyone and end up working on clients that are not nourishing to their business which leaves massage therapists drained or resentful or in other words on the way to burnout!)
A mission statement based on your values will help you to attract your “Ideal Client” which is a person who matches your mission statement (and values).

Cherie Sohnen-Moe in her book “Business Mastery” says that a purpose is a general direction that you want to take in a business. You can have a purpose for various parts of your life - your business and your personal life.

A mission/purpose statement is based on Your Needs - so becoming aware of what it is that you need is part of the process.

The book “Attracting Perfect Customers” by Stacey Hall and Jan Brogniez aks:

“Does working with this customer make you feel needed, appreciated, respected and understood? Does he or she reconnect you with the passion and purpose that puts joy in your work?”

The focus of the book is to learn to attract clients who have the same values or mission statement as you do so that you can feel good about what you do. I know I find when I work on insurance clients in which the company pays me less than my hourly wage, I end up feeling slighly resentful and I have to admit, I may not work as hard as I would if someone were paying me full price. I also find that working with people who are constantly trashing their bodies and not respecting them is difficult to work with - but it sometimes pays the bills because they have to come in so often. Long term these people often become boring to work with to me as they always come in with the same issues. While this isn’t good or bad - it just is.

My favorite clients come in wanting more from their sessions. They want to have a better understanding of their bodies and new ways of taking care of themselves. They want to get more in touch with themselves through their body and particpate in the sessions by staying present. (This is also affected by how much I am able to stay present and I know what things take me away from that- things like people complaining and never doing anything about it or people who want me to fix them and not take responsibility for their pain and health issues.)

One thing that I see often in the massage profession is thinking that you have to or even want to work on every client that calls out of fear that they will go to other therapists or that you won’t have enough income. Knowing who your ideal client is will keep you working longer and feeling more fulfilled and successful. But it is a process of finding out who works and who doesn’t work for you so you have to start somewhere. Creating a mission statement that defines your ideal client will help you to decide who to work on.

“Attracting Perfect Customers refers to this as the light house affect - can you stand firmly on the shore doing what you are supposed to be doing and not running up and down the beach trying to get everyone to see you . There might be boats out there that have their own navigation systems and don’t need you for some other reasons. You can read more on their website…www.perfectcustomers.com

For more on mission statements;

Blog entry

Stephen Covey’s online Mission Statement Builder

Clarifying Your Values on www.massagepracticebuilder.com

Microsoft Small Business Plan Template

Share your mission statements with others so you can learn more about yourself and others can learn from you…

Posted in Building Your Practice, Massage Marketing, Recommended Reading, Starting Your Practice | No Comments »